


Twelve Days of Christmas: Day 5

by serendipityxxi



Series: 12 Days of Haven OT3 Christmas [5]
Category: Haven (TV)
Genre: Christmas, Christmas Stockings, F/M, Fluff, M/M, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-23
Updated: 2015-12-23
Packaged: 2018-05-08 13:41:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 722
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5499116
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/serendipityxxi/pseuds/serendipityxxi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A non-canon-compliant fluffy Audrey/Nathan/Duke OT3 holiday prompt extravaganza!<br/>On the fifth day of Christmas my true loves gave to me...five Christmas stockings</p>
            </blockquote>





	Twelve Days of Christmas: Day 5

**Author's Note:**

> This fic is non canon compliant and takes place approximately two years after the Troubles are hand-wavey over. Audrey, Nathan and Duke went on a world tour on the Rouge after the Troubles ended and Haven was mostly rebuilt. This is their first Christmas back in Haven. All the fics in this series can be read as stand alones.
> 
>  **The prompt for this one was:** Apparently there was no prompt for this one. IDK where it came from.

On the fifth day of Christmas my true loves gave to me… five Christmas Stockings

Nathan finishes outlining the last letter and sets aside the puff paint. He smiles at his work, smoothing a thumb over the heel of the fluffy red fabric.

Duke’s stocking has a gull in flight outlined on it. Nathan had initially considered a pirate skull and crossbones but Duke isn’t that person anymore, he mostly never was. He isn’t a pirate or a smuggler, he isn’t running from his past or fighting his future, most days he doesn’t even wear his mask of self-interest or that devil-may-care attitude he used to parade around in like a cloak. Oh he’s still flip and sarcastic and he lives in a morally grey area that Nathan has only recently come to understand. But Nathan also sees how Duke has come into his own. He’s steady and competent. He’s created a place for himself in saving the town and helping the rebuilding, that space is big enough to help others to do so as well. Nathan’s seen him hiring people who might not have gotten the second chance they deserve. Nathan’s seen Duke use the Gull for good more times than he can count now that he’s got his eyes open. Duke’s smiles reach his eyes now, the restless tension in him is gone, he’s free like the birds that his restaurant is named after. Nathan couldn’t want anything more for this man who means so much to him. 

Audrey’s has handcuffs. Obviously she’s a cop, she’s his partner. She's what ties him to the here and now when he'd rather retreat into his shell. She latched on to the best part of him and demands that be the only self he shows. She’s helped him to let go of so much rage and helped him to make connections. He’d been numb on the outside before he'd met her but he'd been numb on the inside for even longer than that. She’d helped him to forge new bonds, helped him to connect. She’s also what ties the three of them together. His and Duke’s love for her had made them work together and in working together he’d found the friend he’d missed. Her stubborn, unwavering belief in Duke had opened avenues for Nathan to see him as someone he could trust again. To acknowledge that maybe he had judged him unfairly. He doesn’t know if he’d have been brave enough to try with Duke again without Audrey there to keep their rough edges from scraping against one another. Allowed them to find ways to love each other that didn’t hurt. So yes, Audrey gets handcuffs.

The stockings have their names stenciled across the top but Nathan did the rest of it free hand and is pretty impressed with himself. His own stocking has his shield. He is a defender of Haven, from the Troubles or troubles. He is Audrey and Duke’s greatest defender. He believes in fighting for the right and he believes in the battles he has chosen. Nathan will stand for as long as he can.

He hangs the stockings over the fireplace, five altogether. Their three stockings hung close together in the middle of the fireplace and two more on the end. Jean and James. Two impossible children that would have lived and laughed and brightened this old house if it weren’t for the scheming of fate.

Nathan isn’t sure he would have been a good father but he knows he damn sure would have tried. He remembers scoffing at Audrey how Duke wouldn’t have been good father material on that day so long ago but Nathan can see now how his bitterness clouded his judgment. The Duke that Nathan knows now would be an excellent father. Maybe not the best disciplinarian but they had enough of that growing up to last two lifetimes.

Nathan turns on the lights on the Christmas tree and sits down in a chair to enjoy the scene – the fire in the hearth, the tree on the coffee table and now the lights sparking on the paint on the stockings. Audrey and Duke will be home soon bringing noise and life to the little old yellow house. He enjoyed his quiet afternoon to himself but he’ll be even gladder to welcome them back.


End file.
